Athygli
by loudsmiles
Summary: [Spoilers through Duhr] So Kalas is apparently not as oblivious as she thought, and now Xelha is receiving some not entirely unwanted attention...[KalasXelha]


So after about half a year of pretending not to exist, I finally wrote something. I'm a bit of an idiot sometimes...moving on.

Disclaimer: TJdork does not own Baten Kaitos.

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Xelha glanced up to the sky, watching the glittering stars high above. They looked a bit odd, though, fainter and somehow smaller than they usually were. With the moon hidden behind a patch of clouds, it was almost impossible to see, although the stars should have been bright enough to illuminate even Sheliak's foggy streets. She frowned, then mentally smacked herself. Of course they looked odd; the abnormally heavy cloud cover was the Taintclouds and she was in Duhr, _Earth_, with an altitude several thousand feet below what she was used to. Xelha then proceeded to mentally smack herself for the second time as a jolt nearly caused her to fall off the White Dragon as he prepared to take them back to Anuenue. It wasn't the first time she'd forgotten to pay attention and nearly got herself in quite a bit of trouble. _Kalas would probably scold me for being naïve_,she thought with a wince. Although he wasn't nearly as much of a jerk as he had been when she had first met him, not even Gibari would think that that would be going too far. And Kalas had been becoming kinder towards all of them, even before…that. She still didn't like think thinking about it, although he had decided to fight against the god he had helped raised up. All because he hadn't wanted to kill them; her, specifically. And now the slight kindness he had begun to show before then had suddenly developed into much, much more. There were times when she had braced herself for one of his trademark sarcastic comments and the comment had never come. He smiled more readily, too –even laughed, not the mocking laughter she had heard from him before, but a cheerful laugh that she nearly would have expected from Savyna before Kalas. Maybe… 

"Xelha!" Xelha winced slightly at the sound of a certain someone's voice. She turned to face the speaker. "Yes, Kalas?"

"Are you all right? That's the fifth time I've called your name." Xelha blinked. Again, he had had an opportunity for a caustic remark and hadn't said it. And although the blue-haired boy _did_ have an exasperated look in his eyes –probably from her not paying attention- it was buried beneath…concern? Kalas was concerned about her? He'd been concerned about her before, but only when she'd been injured in battle, and never for very long. But for him to be even slightly worried over something so trivial she'd never seen before. And over her…Xelha felt her face heat up a bit a prayed Kalas wouldn't notice. "I was just thinking," she answered.

Kalas sighed and shook his head. "Xelha, I'm not saying it's bad to think, but you have got to pay attention. You never know what might happen if you're caught by surprise." Xelha flushed again.

"Right…sorry."

The corner of Kalas's mouth quirked up. "Sure, whatever," he said in response to her apology. Xelha smiled slightly in return and made to turn away before she could turn redder, but a partially gloved hand landed on her shoulder, stopping her. "Xelha, wait," he added softly, which startled her. Even when Kalas was worried or upsethe didn't act like it. She'd realized over the course of their journey that he just was one of those people who struggled to express worry or sadness. Something was wrong; she could tell from his eyes, all traces of his previous amusement gone, and from the hand he'd yet to remove from her shoulder. _He must be very stressed and tired if he's allowing it to affect him_, she thought. "What is it, Kalas? Is something wrong?"

"Are you sure you're all right?" he asked her, still in that same quiet voice. Xelha frowned. What was wrong with him? He never acted like this.

"Of course, Kalas. I'm perfectly all right, so why…?" She let the question hang in hopes he would let slip what was bothering him.

"You've been acting weird lately. And sometimes you just stare into space and forget we're there." Xelha jumped and stared at him. She hadn't realized he was that observant! She'd been a little melancholy ever since they had arrived in Duhr, but that was only because the air was so heavy, both physically and mentally. It was hard to breathe when it was so damp outside and with traces of the poison fog that made up the Taintclouds still on the ground. Not to mention that everything about Duhr seemed to have an aura of unbreakable sorrow that seemed to be trying to pull her down. It had been worst in the aptly named Garden of Death, but they were far from the marsh and she only had a slight stomachache. And she didn't think that-

"Xelha!" Kalas's voice yanked Xelha back to reality for the third time in a minute. She met his worried sapphire eyes with her guilty gold ones.

"This is exactly what I mean! You just stare off to the side and it's as if you don't even know I'm here." Xelha flinched and felt her gaze slide off Kalas towards the quickly fading land beneath them. The warmth on her shoulder suddenly disappeared, only to reappear as Kalas pressed the back of his hand against her forehead. His other hand shifted position in order for him to brace himself and somehow managed to land directly on top of her own. He didn't seem to notice it, but Xelha certainly did. She tried to keep herself from staring at it and failed miserably. "I thought so," Kalas spoke after a few seconds, distracting Xelha from her study of his left hand. "Your face is flushed, there are shadows under your eyes, and your skin's too warm. You're sure you're not sick?" Mentally, Xelha griped about Kalas still not having very much tact with a crankiness born of exhaustion. Exhaustion that became readily apparent as she opened her mouth to assure him she was fine and instead broke into a large yawn.

Kalas laughed, the anger/worry of moments earlier receding. "You must be exhausted." Xelha nodded against her will, then watched, confused, as he carefully slid himself over until he was sitting next to her, his hand still on hers. Her confusion grew as he wrapped his cloak around her and rested his arm on her shoulders.

"Sleep, Xelha," he ordered gently. For a moment she wondered how she was supposed to sleep when his proximity was making her heart beat so fast it was practically buzzing, but he was right; she was exhausted. So Xelha allowed her eyes to close and her head to fall onto his warm shoulder, felt his arm tighten around her…

And heard Gibari cheerfully yell for both of them to get a room.

"Shut up, Gibari!" Kalas yelled back amidst the laughter. A soft smile crept across Xelha's face as the argument began to escalate in between bouts of laughter. She should help him next time, she decided. This time she was too warm and cozy and Kalas' chest made a wonderful pillow…

So she let the rest of world fade away and went to sleep.

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It's barely longer than my first one...(sigh). BTW, Athygli means attention is Icelandic...I thought it looked pretty and decided to borrow it for my title XD. Thanks for reading and please review! 


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